


Lapse (We're Alone Now)

by joidianne4eva



Series: Non-Human Sam [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cannibalism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17907527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: The water was still, barely a ripple marking his presence but the asset knew what he’d felt, there was something in the water and it was curious…hopefully it wasn’t curious enough to try to taste him.The tug came again, harder and the asset turned slowly letting the waves mask his motion.The waves didn’t hide the thing rising up out of the sea in front of him and the asset stilled as the thing stared at him, large eyes catching the light from the moon and gleaming like a cat’s.





	Lapse (We're Alone Now)

**Author's Note:**

> Siren AU heavily influenced by Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by JoeLawson
> 
> Please excuse any mistakes, I'm doped up on meds for a chest infection.

The asset didn’t have much of an opinion on when or where his next mission would be but he didn’t appreciate the difficulties presented when a mission took place at sea. There were variables that he couldn’t control such as nature and predatory aquatic creatures. It didn’t change the outcome of his mission because any injury dealt to him could be remedied but the sight of blue all around him, it made him…unsettled.

Squinting down at the water the asset vaguely noted the dark shadow that was keeping pace with the yacht. The shape was too slender to be a shark but it was long, moving like a snake through the water before vanishing out of sight.

The asset tracked the place where it had been but the water was clear and the target wandered out onto the deck pulling the asset’s attention back to the mission.

The yacht was meant to sink with the target but Hydra wanted no chances of the man getting out alive and the asset’s fingers curled around his weapon at the thought. 

The yacht was slowing to a crawl now and a loud splash caught the target’s attention. The asset watched as he bent over the bow, glancing down before shaking his head and leaving to head back inside. 

Moving his hand from his gun, the asset grasped the mop that made up his disguise.

The engines were rigged to blow at eighteen hundred which meant that the asset had six hours before he needed to put a bullet in the target’s head.

 

*O*

 

The asset watched as the yacht sank, debris floating up as fire danced over the parts not yet submerged. 

The target was dead, had been dead before the engines exploded but the asset still watched, lightly treading water while several survivors dragged themselves up onto the pieces of board the explosion had scattered. 

The swim suit and the dark paint across his face meant that none of the survivors noticed him in the dark night as they shouted for help. 

He hadn’t been given instructions to hurt any of the others so instead he watched and waited. 

The noise soon died down as the survivors started to organize themselves into small groups and when the asset was certain that none of those still alive had interacted with him he turned to head back to the extraction point. 

His boot hit something and the asset froze, eyes scanning the dark water around him. 

Something tugged at his wet suit and the asset’s eyes narrowed as he curled his fingers around his knife. 

The water was still, barely a ripple marking his presence but the asset knew what he’d felt, there was something in the water and it was curious…hopefully it wasn’t curious enough to try to taste him. 

The tug came again, harder and the asset turned slowly letting the waves mask his motion. 

The waves didn’t hide the thing rising up out of the sea in front of him and the asset stilled as the thing stared at him, large eyes catching the light from the moon and gleaming like a cat’s. 

It wasn’t human, whatever it was but it was very similar if one overlooked the gills at its neck and the scales flowing across its skin…and the eyes. 

The asset shifted back as it moved forward only to still when something slithered over his wet suit. 

He didn’t have to look to understand that the thing hadn’t just been circling him; it had twined its appendages around his legs in a way that meant he couldn’t easily escape.

It moved forward again, luminous eyes tracking him as it reached out its hands. 

The asset noted the webbing between the fingers a second before they were pressed against his neck. 

The skin was soft if a little slimy but it wasn’t hardened which meant that the asset could probably gut the thing. 

The fingers curled around his knife twitched at the thought but he made no move to hurt the creature especially when the fingers only pressed lightly at the front of his throat. 

“Hello,” he offered up and the thing cocked its head. 

“Hello,” it echoed back…in the asset’s voice. 

The asset’s brows twitched at that. 

“Are you lost?” a woman’s voice asked as the creature opened its mouth again.

“I could make a lot of money off something like you,” Another voice mused. 

“Please don’t hurt me, I’m sorry, I’m fucking sorry,” the same voice pleaded. 

“Are you lost?” the woman’s voice asked again. 

“Mimicry,” the asset noted. 

The creature said nothing to that, its hands dropping from the asset’s throat as it glanced back at the partially submerged yacht.

“Pod?” 

This voice was lilted, almost a song and the asset guessed that this was a question the creature actually wanted answered and not just a replication of something it had heard.   

Pods were familial units…maybe it thought he was lost.

Shaking his head the asset watched as the creature frowned. “Hunt?”

The asset wasn’t certain why he nodded at that but the motion was barely done when the creature vanished back into the water.

Turning the asset eyed the yacht just in time to watch it heave itself from the waves, slithering across the broken board on its hands, its tail working like a snake’s as it lunged at the body lying motionlessly on the debris.

The asset was too far away to know if the person was alive or dead but when the creature hauled them down into the water he could guess that if they had been alive that wasn’t going to last for much longer. 

The asset counted to one hundred in his head and when the creature didn’t reappear, he started to swim for the shore slowly, scanning the waters around him as he moved. 

He’d almost expected the tug at his boot but what he didn’t expect was for the thing to erupt from the water, slithering over and around the asset before he could react. 

Whirling he froze when he found it only inches from his face, sharp teeth bared at him. 

Neither of them moved for a long moment until the creature frowned, floating even closer and the asset’s fingers curled around his knife as it pressed its forehead to his. 

Pulling back it stared at him expectantly and the asset raised a hand to his head, watching as it copied him. 

“Thank you,” the asset guessed and while it didn’t understand it did pull back and this time when the asset moved, it moved with him but made no move to obstruct him. 

It kept pace easily with him until he caught sight of the beach he was heading for. 

He didn’t look back when it stopped, not until his boots hit the sand and when he did glance back at it, it was watching him from the water then between one breath and the next it was gone.

 

*O*

 

The asset wasn’t sure why he omitted the creature’s existence from his mission report. It would have been valuable to Hydra. They could have made it into something greater than itself…like they’d done to him but the asset made no mention of the creature and he shoved it out of his mind. 

The asset didn’t mention the song that had crept into his nights, lilting at the edge of the darkness that served as a replacement for his dreams. 

The asset kept the secret through mission after mission. He kept it while the helicarrier fell from the sky. He tucked it close as it pulled the man that had once been his mission from the waters and it cradled the memory as the pieces of Bucky slotted into the empty spaces that the asset left behind. 

He kept the memory as he ran, from Hydra, from Steve Rogers and from the man that he’d once been. 

He didn’t question himself as he paid cash for transportation back to Jamaica. Maybe the creature would be gone but at least the island was still safe. Hydra had no roots there and Steve had no reason to think that he’d be heading there either. 

He wouldn’t run forever but he needed a moment to just breathe, a moment that wasn’t crippled with guilt and horror at the thing that he’d become…at the things that he’d done. 

The little house at the edge of beach was just as silent as it had been months before when the asset had scouted it out as a safe house. 

It was quiet but clean, just as he’d left it and Bucky secured the windows and doors, scouting the place three times before he felt safe enough to let himself rest.

 

*O*

 

The song bubbled up into his dreams, coating his memories in a thin film that made everything feel surreal almost like he was watching his life from under water, buffeted by something warm that never wanted him to leave. 

Waves caressed his skin and Bucky turned into the motion, breathing despite the fluid surrounding him. 

The waves dipped, retreating as something came closer and Bucky reached out as the song grew louder and louder until it was all he could hear. 

The dream shattered as something brushed against his skin and Bucky’s eyes snapped open, gun in his hand and aimed before he even realized he was moving.

Above him the creature snarled, frills that Bucky hadn’t noticed before flaring to life as it glared down at him. 

A gust of wind drifted across the room, banging the torn remains of the bedroom window as it went, answering the question of how the thing had gotten in but the why was still another question. 

Lowering the gun he watched as the creature’s frills flattened against its skin as it rose up onto its tail. 

“Hello,” it offered up, still in a mimicry of his voice. 

“Hello,” Bucky echoed, eyeing the thing but it shook its head.

“Pod,” it demanded, pointing one webbed finger at him and Bucky frowned.

“I didn’t do anything to your pod.”

This time it huffed, the move make its frills dance and Bucky wondered just how long it could survive out of the water.

Almost as if it had heard the question it slithered off the bed and Bucky quickly sat up so he could watch it go and promptly got a fish to the face.

He spluttered, wiping the slime from his face. “The fuck was that for?” he demanded and the creature paused where it was perched half way out the window. 

“Hunt,” it responded before vanishing and when Bucky ducked out of the window to watch it go he found it slithering across the beach, pausing only once to glance back at him before it vanished into the waves.

 

*O*

 

Bucky wasn’t sure what he expected if anything after the thing’s last appearance so he wasn’t surprised when he caught it slithering through his window. 

He paused, the towel that he’d been using to dry his hair flopping down over his face as the creature stared at him, its eyes gleaming in the moonlight. 

It seemed to scoff at his nakedness and the parts of him that was Bucky wanted to get pissed off because he’d never had anything to be ashamed of but the parts of him that were still used to being stripped down and inspected like a machine noted the way that the creature didn’t stray too close until he was dressed. 

Instead it seemed to inspect every inch of his room, prodding at the bed before shifting to dig through the small bag that held Bucky’s clothes.

“Can I help you with something?” he finally asked, not quite expecting an answer and the only response he got was an agitated tail slap that made him wonder just how strong the thing’s tail actually was. 

It grew bored with his things and rose up fully onto its tail so that it was taller than him; before it went slithering by and Bucky wondered if that had been an intimidation tactic. 

The main living room wasn’t much but the creature was immediately captivated by the television.

It cooed as it bobbed, watching the movie that Bucky had put on more for the background noise than for its content. 

Sighing Bucky settled onto one of the few rickety chairs scattered throughout the room. He’d been planning to catch a few minutes sleep but with the thing in his house he’d never be able to especially given the fact that he still wasn’t sure if it wanted to eat him or not. 

On the screen one of the characters was reciting a poem and the creature hummed in tune with it. 

When it made no move to leave, Bucky got up and retrieved the folder he’d stolen browsing it as he kept half an eye on his house guest.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when it shook itself, trilling a soft song as it slithered from the room and Bucky followed quickly watching as it climbed onto the windowsill.

“Same time tomorrow?” he called after it and it paused, eyeing him as its tail lashed.

There was something almost human in its gaze and Bucky tensed. It was almost funny that he’d been more comfortable around the thing when it had seemed so alien but now he was unsure.

“I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you, thank you, Sam I am,” it recited in a child’s voice and it took Bucky a second to realize that it was quoting the child from the movie. 

The second was a second too long because the creature was already gone, slithering its way across the moonlit beach.

Bucky watched as it dipped into the sea, leaving barely a ripple in the small waves lapping at the sand. 

“Sam, huh?” he asked no one but the silence felt like it was agreeing with him and honestly he couldn’t keep calling him ‘the creature’ or ‘it’.

Sam felt like a good fit…Bucky wasn’t going to touch the fact that he wasn’t sure if Sam was male or female with a ten foot pole.

 

*O*

 

The next time Bucky saw Sam he was wrestling a shark across the sand. Bucky had just happened to be at the window watching the moonlight dance on the water when movement at the furthest edge of the beach caught his attention.

Sam erupted from the water with what could only amount to a snarl and Bucky was half out of the window before he realized that Sam didn’t seem to be hurt. Instead Sam kept up a steady grumble of sound as he hauled the shark across the sand and towards the house.

“You’re not bringing that thing in here,” Bucky called down to him and even in the dim light he could see the way Sam’s eyes narrowed, it made him wonder once again just how much Sam could understand. 

Dropping the shark Sam slithered up towards the house, giving Bucky a first-hand view of how he’d been climbing up the walls as he dug sharp nails into the wood before propelling himself higher until he was face to face with Bucky and this close he could make out just how impressed Sam was with him. 

“Hunt,” Sam hissed, pointing back at the shark. 

Bucky just shook his head, “Nope,” he responded.

“Hunt,” Sam snarled, frills flaring. “Hunt, eat,” he tried again pointing at Bucky and that had something sparking in his head.

“You’re hunting for me?” he asked.

“Hunt, eat,” Sam repeated and Bucky guessed that was the best he was going to get.

“Look, I can hunt for myself. I don’t need you taking care of me or fattening me up or whatever you’re trying to do,” he grumbled, climbing out the window. He needed to move the damn shark before someone saw it and he figured there was no way Sam was going to let him toss it back into the water. 

Sam slithered down from his perch all but cooing at him as Bucky hoisted the shark onto one shoulder, ignoring the gash where the shark’s gills were meant to be.

“Pod, hunt, eat,” Sam informed him as he followed him back to the house and Bucky rolled his eyes so hard it hurt. 

He carefully ignored the warm feeling in his chest at the thought of Sam trying to take care of him because for all he knew Sam was pulling a Hansel and Gretel move. 

The thought didn’t stop him from waiting until Sam was inside to close the door.

 

*O*

 

Sam was a distraction, one that Bucky was grateful for because it distracted him from the things he was running from but Sam’s presence and very existence only worked when Bucky was awake. There was nothing to protect him while he slept. 

Images of faces twisted, corrupted by memories of past missions and Bucky watched, chained to the table he’d been ordered onto so many times as someone with his face snapped his mother’s neck. He screamed and begged but the man just looked at him, expression blank as his mother smiled, her forgiveness written on her face but Bucky didn’t deserve that, he didn’t. 

The dream splintered and the same man was holding Steve’s head under water, ignoring the way Steve scrabbled at his arms as he stared at Bucky.

Then those same hands were around his neck and Bucky snapped awake, gasping. 

“Sam I am,” Sam offered up from where he was curled around Bucky and he didn’t even ask himself how Sam had gotten there, he just breathed, letting air fill his lings because he hadn’t done any of the things in his dreams but he’d done a hundred other things that were just as bad. 

Bucky didn’t move when Sam plucked at his hair, voice rising into a low croon that segued into something else, something otherworldly…into the song that had haunted Bucky when Sam was so far away. 

He didn’t know if Sam was singing for him or if that was how he communicated but Bucky held still, letting Sam pet him as he sang. 

He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep but when he woke, Sam was gone.

 

*O*

 

Bucky had known that he couldn’t run forever but he’d hoped or some more time. It was stupid that after so long he’d so easily forgotten that hoping had never gotten him anywhere good. 

Waves buffeted his body and Bucky could barely find the energy to keep treading water. 

He could see several agents heading his way and he knew there’d be more. A vicious part of him hoped he’d bleed out before they got to him but he knew the serum wouldn’t allow him to die. 

Gripping his gun tight, he ducked under water eyes widening as he caught sight of something barrelling towards the closest agent. 

Bucky broke the surface of the water the same time Sam did and his name was already on Bucky’s tongue when Sam grabbed the agent and plunged them both back into the water as others started shooting at the spot where he’d been, attention momentarily diverted. 

Sam reappeared between the other four and Bucky aimed as the one at Sam’s back did.

The man fell backwards off the jet ski and Bucky bared his teeth in something that could have loosely been described as a smile when Sam vanished again because he knew that even if his shot hadn’t killed the man that Sam would finish the job. 

Something tugged at his leg and Bucky didn’t fight the motion because he knew the hands that curled around his hips tugging him down under the water and he met Sam’s eyes, taking in the fury painted across his face for only a second before Sam was clamping his hands around Bucky’s ears and when he opened his mouth Bucky’s world faded.

 

*O*

 

“…you’d better wake your ass up ‘cause you’re heavy as fuck and my knees aren’t used to this shit anymore,” 

Bucky was moving but not on his own steam when he opened his eyes. His arms were draped across someone’s shoulders and the same person was swearing up a storm as he stumbled forward. 

“Put me down,” he demanded and he didn’t have the time to regret the request when he found himself flat on his ass in the sand. 

“Thank fuck,” the man muttered and the first thing Bucky noticed was his cheekbones because how anyone could see anything else when looking at the man was beyond him. His mind was still clearing and as it did Bucky took in the way the stranger held himself and how often he was scanning the beach. He’d had some sort of training be it from the military or the police force.

The next thing he noticed was the man’s eyes and the way they flickered between a warm honey brown and the cold icy white that Bucky had only seen one place else.

“Sam?” he asked and the man grinned at him.

“Sam Wilson actually though I’m glad you got the Sam bit. It’s sort of hard to get thoughts across when you’re trying to not kill everyone in your general vicinity with your voice,” he offered up, holding out a hand to Bucky. A hand that he took, allowing Sam to tug him upright without thought because this was Sam even if he was wearing a new face. “We need to keep moving because I’m sure I heard one of those guys radioing for help.”

“They’re after me,” Bucky explained and Sam snorted.

“No shit, I might’ve forgotten a lot of things while I was like that but I didn’t forget what Captain America’s best friend looks like.”

“I mean that you should go,” Bucky pointed out and the look that got him was pure Sam…at least the Sam he’d known before.

“I didn’t feed your ass and sing to you at night to hand you over to a bunch of dicks. I still have some family living out here. We can lie low until they leave then you can tell me what we’re going to do,” he muttered.

“I thought you were feeding me because you wanted to eat me,” Bucky offered up after a few long minutes of silence.

Sam shot him a sly smile at that and Bucky wanted to ask but he was tired and in pain and honestly just having Sam here was enough for now. 

He could deal with the rest later.

 

*O*

 

Later came faster than he expected. 

Bucky hung back while Sam talked to his family, watching the way his smile stretched wide as he laughed at something one of them said and Bucky wondered if they’d seen the split second when the expression had been more of a baring of teeth than anything else. 

They probably hadn’t because before he knew it Sam was being handed a key and the men he’d been talking to, his cousins Bucky guessed, wandered off.

Bucky waited until they were gone before slipping from the shadows and the grin that he got was just on the wrong side of feral. It didn’t stop him from following Sam into the house because the Sam he’d known was wild and unpredictable, not this husk of politeness and humanity. 

It said a lot that he sort of preferred the other Sam.

*O*

 

Bucky’s wounds were almost completely healed when he finally asked or less asked and more told.

“You haven’t always been like this,” he noted as Sam entered the house, a bag full of fish at his side and his eyes were still too big, his teeth too sharp, like the Sam inside of him was trying to fight its way out. 

Sam snorted, dropping the bag into the deep freezer before heading for the sink. 

Bucky followed him closely, leaning against the doorframe while Sam washed his hands. 

“What makes you think I wasn’t always like this?” Sam inquired and Bucky shrugged because it was the little things. It was the way he’d caught Sam staring at his own eyes in the mirror, fingers tracing the scales just pushing through, setting a grey undertone to his skin that didn’t look right.

It was the way that he’d watched Sam stop mid word when he sliced his tongue on teeth that were sharper than anything meant for a human mouth. 

It was so many tiny details that other people probably wouldn’t have noticed but that Bucky couldn’t miss. 

He kept quiet but the shrug had apparently been enough for Sam because he turned to face him and then walked pass, barely reacting when Bucky followed him…sometimes he felt like that was all he could do…follow Sam.

Sam tossed himself onto the couch but Bucky stayed on his feet, eyes flickering to the long expanse of Sam’s neck as he leaned back, eyes closed and his lips curled into a bitter smirk. 

“You’re right, anyway,” Sam offered up finally. “I wasn’t always like this, hell I don’t even know how it happened. One minute I was sinking in the water and the next thing I know I’m pulling a Little Mermaid.”

“You can’t swim?” Bucky asked and Sam snorted, his eyes opening just enough for Bucky to see the cold white hidden behind the lids.

“I can swim,” he responded, eyes glued to Bucky’s face but Bucky didn’t have anything to say to that. It wasn’t his place to judge Sam’s life choices.

After a long moment Sam huffed, “I guess a part of me wasn’t ready to let go, no matter what I thought,” he whispered and it was confession enough to confirm what Bucky had already guessed.

“What about now?” Bucky asked and this time Sam’s smile was gentler as his eyes opened fully, the familiar brown chasing away the white.

“I’ve got you to look after now,” Sam replied. 

Bucky hummed but didn’t deny it because Sam had been taking care of him even when he hadn’t realized it.

*O*

 

The first time they kissed, Bucky could barely see Sam through the blood pouring from the gash above his left eye. There was passion and something else stirring beneath his ribs as he licked into Sam’s mouth, it almost made it possible to pretend that the blood he could taste was just his and Sam’s.

It didn’t keep him from gripping Sam tight because he’d seen Sam take a bullet that was meant for him, he’d seen him go down and there’d been nothing he could do, pinned down as he’d been by the Hydra agents they’d been tracking down. 

“Don’t ever do that again, you hear me?” he snarled against Sam’s lips but Sam just laughed, his eyes wild, scales appearing and vanishing along his cheekbones, like his body wasn’t sure which Sam it wanted to be.

“You scared, Barnes?” he taunted and Bucky blamed the gleam in his eyes for where they ended up later that night with Sam pinned beneath him, legs clamped around Bucky’s hips as he begged for faster, more, _anything._

What Bucky gave him instead was his own words parroted back at him, ghosting between their lips. 

“You scared, Wilson?” he growled and to be honest he probably deserved the teeth Sam dug into his skin. 

It didn’t matter, it’d be healed by morning and Bucky would still have Sam. They’d still have each other and that was all that really mattered.

 

*O*

 

Sam had the unique ability to find any body of water within his vicinity and claim it as his own if he could get away with it. 

It was why Bucky was sitting on a grassy hill watching as Sam dived for fish. He wasn’t even eating them just following them around until he grew bored. 

Sam was always almost silent in this form other than a few parroted words and his occasional singing. Bucky was grateful for his silence because he’d seen what happened when Sam tried to speak more than a few words.

He’d been lucky, the serum had fixed his ruptured eardrums and the haemorrhaging in his brain, the agents who’d been after them at the time hadn’t been so lucky. 

Sam trilled, catching his attention and Bucky watched as he heaved himself up onto the riverbank. 

Rolling his eyes he tossed Sam’s clothes at him, snickering to himself at the enraged shriek he got when Sam’s trousers hit him square in the face.

“You think you’re too pretty to sleep on the floor but let me tell you…” Sam warned, trading one form for the other in a breath and Bucky tuned out the words, instead letting his eyes follow the path of the few stray drops of water that clung to Sam’s chest.

He got a face full of mud for his troubles but it was worth it. 

“Didn’t you say that a pretty face could get away with anything?” Bucky demanded, flicking mud off his face.

“I said good dick could get away with anything,” Sam shot back.

Bucky just smirked and that got him another hand full of mud. 

He probably deserved it, to be honest.

 

*O*

 

“A mermaid?” Steve asked and honestly Bucky didn’t know who he wanted deck first, Steve for ignoring the important parts of what he was saying or Sam for cackling instead of helping. 

It had taken them six months to arrange a meeting with Steve and his team and now all he wanted to focus on was the fact that Bucky’s fella sometimes sprouted a tail. 

“Can’t say there’s much maidenly about me especially not after…” 

Bucky slapped a hand across Sam’s mouth, ignoring the flaring gills that he got in response because he had a damn good idea of what Sam had been about to say and the last thing anyone needed was to know about their sex life. 

“Look, he’s good people, he saved me,” Bucky explained patiently despite the fact that he felt like he was one glance away from running and taking Sam with him.

“Well, I can’t say that I saw this coming,” Stark muttered glancing between the two of them. “But welcome to the team, I guess? I’ve got a big pool that you can have access to if Loki’s hasn’t frozen it over again.” 

Bucky glanced from Stark to Steve who was nodding like a bobble head. 

“Tony’s right and I wasn’t…I didn’t mean anything by the mermaid thing.” 

“I’m not offended,” Sam told them tugging Bucky’s hand from over his mouth. “I get the whole protect the man-child thing you’ve got going. I basically fed him and put him to bed for three months before he even noticed we were dating.” 

“We weren’t dating, I thought you were going to kill me.”

“It was a possibility,” Sam offered up, smiling serenely at him when Bucky glowered in his direction. “I thought you were stupid but you know what they say…”

Bucky’s hand was back before Sam could say anything about his dick. It didn’t exactly hide the waggling eyebrows but Bucky took what he could get.


End file.
